International hoop-making manual: making a hoop in your country

There's tons of info for hoop-makes in the US, but not much for the rest of the world.
If you live outside the US, and have made a hoop in your country, please share exactly where you bough your materials.
Please put the name of your country on the top of your post !

Replies to This Discussion

TUBING: I got tubing for my hoop from Ebay, since that's the only place here where you can buy this tubing in smaller quantities. You can't get in it Bauhauses, since it is used only in large-scale agriculture. Maybe in a huge agriculture store you could get it, but only huge quantities. On Ebay you can buy it per meter. Just look for listing that says "1 meter". It cost me 1€ per meter, plus the same for postage within Germany. You can also buy bigger coils, that works out cheaper if you want to make more hoops.
In Germany PVC 3/4" 180 PSI translates as PE rohr 25mm x 2,3mm 12,5 BAR. Or at least that's the closest I've come to it !

TAPES & INSERTS: I bought insert connectors and tapes from fancy-tapes.co.uk and I can't recommend them enough. I did try to get tubing and tapes in the local Baumarkt, but they didn't have any nice tapes. They had a basic silvery Gaffer thing which doesn't grip, and the colourful gaffer is quite short and narrow, expensive, and it is not durable ! So ordering stuff from fancytapes.co.uk is actually quite economical. Their connectors are also cheaper than the ones on Ebay.

In both hardwarestores I tried (Bauhaus and Toom) I found my tubing. That's why I'm kind of surprised your hardwarestore didn't have it. I use tubing with 3/4" (20 mm x 2mm, no idea what this translates to in psi/bar, they didn't bother to print it on anywhere, but it feels right while hooping). Available quantities were 3m, 5m (ca. 7 EUR), 10m (10 EUR), 12,5m (10 EUR) and I think something around 30m.

The connector was a lot more trouble (that's why I went to a second hardwarestore where I decided: why not buy some more tubing...)
For my first hoop I used this connector, 2,50 EUR (and about 10 minutes filing).

By now all my hoops are connected with approx. 7 cm of the same tubing as is explained here. I cut about 2mm lengthwise out of the tubing, makes the handling a lot easier and I found out that a regular office stapler works ok.

Tape: for most of my hoops I just used this Gaffa-Tape I had lying around in black and white. I also combined electrical tape (hardwarestore, under 1 EUR/hoop, 10mm) and Ditte (width about 7 cm), which looks and works great but isn't exactly an answer to the tape-question.

Hi, the OBI does have it now, apparently the stock up in the spring, not in autumn. The prices on Ebay are getting cheaper though, and it gets delivered to your front door...

I also wanted to say that for lighter and smaller hoops I´m also using the 20mm x 2mm, but that is 1/2" and not 3/4" ! I´m sure of that because of the size of the connectors I get from fancytapes.co.uk

SWITZERLAND
Tubing: I found the right tubing in Hornbach but only in big quantities. So I have visited few local plumbing companies, smiled at the boss and usually get few meters for free. Just mention you are trying to do a hoop and they get all surprised and intrigued by the idea.
All the dimensions, 1", 3/4", 1/2" of black tubing here have very high PSI - it is around 16 bars which is 230 psi!
I found softer grey tubing, which has less psi but it is very difficult to put connectors in and impossible to make collapsible hoop. I think it is used for gas.

Connectors: I use either a little piece of the same tubing as the hoop, cut lengthwise. Or metal connector, which is very similar to the one from fancy.tapes, used for gardening hoses. The only problem is that it's metal, therefore heavy.

Tapes: I have ordered once from fancy.tape.co.uk but it gets very expensive with custom taxes (as Switzerland is not in the EU). So lately I am using strips of fabric, much cheaper option with more possibilities of design.

Hi! Great forum because I was so confused by the difference between what material is what between hoop makers in different countries. It's been a great learning experience.

I have also found as Spin Doctor says tubing at Home Depot - if it is helpful to others identifying this tubing, it is PE tubing (they also have superpex which is more expensive). My search for Polypro locally in Canada finally happened by accident recently at LOWES.

Lowes has 400ft of black PolyPro - 1"OD 3/4" ID for $89.98. That's going to make a LOT of hoops, but I'm preparing for a show so good deal if you're doing that. I have used the PE tubing at Home Depot, Rona and Canadian tire but I think I am liking the way the Polypro at Lowes best.

I ordered clear Polypro from www.plastictubingonline.com in Alberta, and the only issue I am having is that the tubing is tightly wound into a small diameter and it does not seem to want to "relax" into a 36-40" hoop. It will make great minis though.

I buy the 3" long barbed grey connectors at any of the big box hardware stores, and I find that using my tube cutters to take off the last "barb" and make them 2.5" long works fine and reduces the "flat spot" on the hoop. I use my dremmel moto tool with a sanding wheel to quickly remove the middle bump (wear protective eyewear and clothing as flying bits of plastic are hot on the skin).